V International IT Forum in Khanty-Mansiysk

V International IT Forum "Information Society for All: Turning goals into actions" took place on 4-5 June 2013 in Khanty-Mansiysk. The Forum was organized by the Government of the Khanty-Mansi Autonomous Okrug - Yugra and the Public Chamber of the Khanty-Mansiysk Autonomous Okrug - Yugra, with the support and participation of the World Bank, UNESCO Office in Moscow, the UNESCO Institute for Information Technologies in Education (UNESCO IITE) and the Insitute for the Information Society. The forum was held to exchange opinions and best practices in the field of e-government, e-democracy, and introduction of information technologies in education, health and culture. 

The First International IT Forum was organized in 2008, since then annual IT event in Ugra has become a tradition. Currently it is the largest platform to discuss the development of the Information Society and information and communication technologies in the Ural Federal District. This year, the forum was attended by more than 800 professionals in the field of informatization: civil servants of the federal and regional authorities, experts, representatives of business, professional associations, research and education communities from 30 regions of the Russian Federation and other countries, such as the United States of America, Ukraine, Korea, Slovakia, Germany, Israel, Singapore and the United Kingdom.

The two day event consisted of parallel and plenary sessions. In addition, an exhibition "Technologies of e-Government" was organized, where participants demonstrated IT-developments aimed at improving peoples lives. IT-companies held roundtables and workshops on ICT usage in education and work.

A session "Information and Communication Technologies in Education" was organized with the support of UNESCO IITE. It was chaired by Prof. Vladimir Tikhomirov (MESI) and was moderated by Svetlana Knyazeva, Head of the Department of Open Educational Resources and Digital Technologies (UNESCO IITE). She delivered presentation on Open Educational Resources and Open Education. IITE Governing Member Prof. Dae-Joon Hwang, Secretary General of the Council of the Republic of Korea on Higher Education delivered a report on "Modern trends in the use of ICT in education".

As a result of the V International IT Forum a resolution was adopted. It highlighted the importance of development of the Information Society in Russia and suggested recommendations and measures aimed at bridging the digital disparities between regions, improvement of ICT infrastructure for socio-economic development, use of ICT in education and culture, development of the governmental integrated information system of public finance management, geoinformation government support systems,and e-democracy.

Forum materials are available at a http://www.informugra.ru/event/17462